Discovering the hidden listener an assessment of Radio Liberty and western broadcasting to the USSR during the Cold War : a study based on audience research findings, 1970-1991 - Parta, R. Eugene (Hoover Institution Press, 2007)
Includes bibliographical references (p. 105-106) and index
Preface August 1991: The Coup, the White House and Radio Liberty -- Sect. 1. Measuring the Audience to Western Broadcasters in the USSR -- Sect. 2. Trends in Listening to Western Broadcasters in the USSR: 1970-1991 -- 2.1. Early Attempts to Quantify the Audience to Western Radio: The 1970s -- 2.2. Weekly Reach of Western Broadcasters: 1980-1990 -- 2.3. The Impact of Jamming -- 2.4. The Role of Political Events -- 2.5. Trends in Measurement of the "Core Audience" -- 2.6. Listening to Western Broadcasters in Last Years of USSR: 1989-1991 -- 2.7. Western Radio in a Time of Glasnost' -- 2.8. Audience Cumulation Patterns: How Frequently Did Listeners Tune In? -- 2.9. Audience Duplication Patterns in the "Core Audience" -- 2.10. Listening in the Geographic Regions of the USSR: Overall Patterns in 1989 -- 2.11. Shifts in Listening to Radio Liberty After Cessation of Jamming -- 2.12. Listening in Russian and Nationality Languages: RL and VOA --
- 2.13. The Overall Annual Audience to Western Radio: 1980-1990 -- 2.14. Comparisons with Internal Surveys to Confirm Audience Estimates -- Sect. 3. Who Were the Listeners and What Did They Hear? -- 3.1. Demographic Characteristics of Listeners to Radio Liberty -- 3.2. Western Radio Listening by Attitudinal Type -- 3.3. Motivations for Listening to Western Radio -- 3.4. Choice of Programming from Radio Liberty -- 3.5. Listeners' Perceptions of Major Western Broadcasters -- Sect. 4. Western Radio's Place in the USSR Media Environment -- 4.1. Information Sources Used for National and International News -- 4.2. Media Use by Demographic Characteristics -- 4.3. Media Use by "FactorTypes" -- 4.4. Trends in Media Use: 1978-1988 -- Sect. 5. Western Radio and Topical Issues. Six Brief Case Studies -- 5.1. The War in Afghanistan: 1979-1989 -- 5.2. The Samizdat Phenomenon: 1970s -- 5.3. The Korean Airliner Incident: 1983 -- 5.4. The Chernobyl Disaster: 1986 --
- 5.5. Glasnost' and Perestroika: 1985-1990 -- 5.6. The Solidarity Movement in Poland: 1980-1981 -- Sect. 6. Some Observations on the Impact of Western Broadcasting to the USSR -- 6.1. Large Cold-War Audiences -- 6.2. Widespread Regime Attacks -- 6.3. Effect on USSR Media -- 6.4. Influence on Attitude and Opinion Formation -- 6.5. Summing Up -- Sect. 7. Epilogue. A Comparison of SAAOR Findings with Data from the Archives of the Institute of Sociology of the USSR Academy of Sciences: Late 1970s and Early 1980s -- 7.1. Comparative Listening Rates -- 7.2. Demographic Comparisons -- 7.3. Motivations for Listening, Programs Heard and Trust in Western Information -- 7.4. Western Stations Heard -- 7.5. Conclusions -- App. A. SAAOR Survey Methodology: Interviewing Soviet Travelers -- App. B. The MIT Mass Media Computer Simulation Methodology -- App. C. Data Validation: Comparison of SAAOR Studies with Internal Soviet Studies and Other Data
"A pariah during the cold war, Radio Liberty was ultimately accepted as a legitimate participant on the Russian media scene by the authorities themselves. How did it happen that Radio Liberty - once the most vilified of Western broadcasters in the Soviet Union - had amassed such a vast audience that it was able to experience its finest hour defending the same democratic forces that it had nurtured during almost four decades of broadcasting?" "Based on more than 50,000 interviews conducted with Soviet citizens traveling outside the USSR during the period 1972-1990, this book attempts to answer the question from the listeners' perspective: How many listeners were there? Who were they? Why did they listen? How did they listen? What did the broadcasts mean to them? Did they make a difference? The author addresses audience size and listening trends over time, the position Western radio occupied in the Soviet media environment, listeners' demographic traits and attitudes, the evolution of the image of different Western broadcasters, and listeners' programming preferences. Through six brief case studies, the author also looks at the role of Western radio in various crisis situations." "The book concludes with some observations about the ultimate impact of Western radio and Radio Liberty - what they actually meant to their listeners and how their influence may have inspired or reinforced other tendencies at work in the USSR as it moved toward a freer society."--BOOK JACKET.